Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 40:4/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ׳:ד׳
אויפקד שר הטבחים. והנה כאשר הושמו אלה הסריסים בבית שר הטבחים, פקד את יוסף, והטעם זכר דבריו והביאו אל ביתו, ושמהו בבור והוא המשמר וזאת דעת המדקדק הגדול ולפי דעתי שבית הסהר היה בבית שר הטבחים, ושם היה יוסף והעד מקום אשר יוסף אסור שם, וצוה שר הטבחים להיות יוסף אתם לשרת אותם, כי מעלה גדולה היתה להם בבית פרעה, כי שרים היו:
1AND THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD CHARGED. When these two officers were put in a ward in the house of the captain of the guard, the latter remembered (pakad)3 (charged) is translated as remembered. Thus according to this interpretation, And the captain of the guard charged (va-yifkod) Joseph is to be rendered: And the captain of the guard remembered (va-yifkod) Joseph. Joseph; i.e., he recalled his abilities4. and brought him to his house5 and placed him in a dungeon6 which is the ward spoken of in our verse. The latter is the opinion of the great grammarian.7 However, I believe that the prison was in the house of the captain of the guard and Joseph was there to begin with. Proof of this is Scripture’s explicit statement, And he put them…into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. What our verse relates is that the captain of the guard commanded (charged)8 as charged. Joseph to be with the butler and baker and serve them because they had high status in Pharaoh’s palace insomuch as they were officers of the king.